Lovina’s Amish Kitchen
Lovina Eitcher,
Old Order Amish
Cook, Wife &
Mother of Eight
Dear Readers,
I hope everyone is doing great! This is daughter Lovina, and I decided to write for Mom again.
It’s a cold Tuesday night here. My brother Ben is grilling ribs for supper. Dad, Mom, and my brother Joseph are in the shed making deer jerky, and my brother Kevin is sitting across the table telling me jokes. (Most of them aren’t funny, but at least he tries.)
Yesterday, Dad talked me into helping him in the shed with meat processing. He said he only needed help with “one thing.” Then as I was doing that “one thing,” he’d say, “oh, and while you’re at it . . .” And that’s how it continued.
Luckily, I had a game plan. I told Dad that I needed to go inside to grab rags, and when I got inside, I told Joseph that Dad needed his help. As long as Dad got the help he needed, he wouldn’t bother me. I just had to pretend like I was busy helping Mom every time he came inside.
Today after doing the housework, I considered cleaning the bathrooms too. Then I came back to my senses. I’m proud of myself for even considering it, but I’ll leave that for another day.
I went outside to help Dad again instead and then came inside and mixed up a batch of monster cookies to bake in the morning. We like to have homemade cookies on hand to go with our coffee in the early mornings.
Tomorrow, I’m going to sister Verena’s place for the night. She and I always have a lot of fun when we’re together. We used to stay up late and make brownies at midnight when we couldn’t sleep.
Kevin’s still telling me jokes as I’m writing the column. He said, “why are they called apartments if they’re built together,” and he’s now been laughing about it for a couple of minutes.
Years ago, when Kevin and I were just small kids, we walked to our aunts Verena and Susan’s place with some of our older siblings. Verena and Susan live just down the road, and all of us siblings loved to walk down there. (They always gave us a bunch of candy.)
One time, Kevin and I brought back one of their puppies, and when Mom told us to take it back, we put it in doll clothes to make her think it was a toy. We couldn’t understand how she still knew it was a puppy. Good thing my IQ is a lot higher than it used to be. I can’t speak for Kevin (just joking!).
Anyways, I better wrap this up. Thank you all for the nice comments on my other column. I read them all and had to laugh at the one that said, “Haflingers are workhorse wannabees; they just forget to keep growing.”
Have a great week! God bless!
Monster Cookies
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 pound peanut butter
2 1/2 teaspoons soda
4 1/2 cups oatmeal
12-ounce package chocolate chips
1 cup M&M’s
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in baking soda, then add oatmeal, chocolate chips, and M&M’s. Add more oatmeal, if needed, to make a stiff dough. Form into tablespoon-size balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Do not overbake.
